With a sickening scream Banks slammed hard in the vat of blood, causing a large splash as the surface broke before the blood's momentum swiftly faded mid splash causing it to slowly come to a stop in a state of suspended animation. Drops of blood hung mid air in defiant of the gravity and the normal progression of time. Cut off from the river, motion slowed to a crawl and causality itself was a chancy proposition with sometimes cause not bothering to lead to an effect. The air, the blood, his own body and even his thoughts grew heavy, all unwilling to move without the presence of time, moving only reluctantly due to the minor traces of the river that he carried with him. This vat was likely impervious to the time loop, and whoever created it was no doubt filling it at the end of each loop in a disgusting example of chronal duplication.
"F...." he tried to speak, desperately keeping his head above water, as the blood and air thickened around him. He tried to send his memories back in time, but there was no clear line back to the Banks of the past and he shuddered to think of the temporal backlash that past Banks was going to go through in a moment. Grasping upwards and vision fading he desperately tried to claw his way upwards but every movement just drained the little bit of the river faster. Eventually his limbs grew heavier, more confined as if there was no more space to move. While three dimensions remained wide open the forth became incredibly confined and more and more of his body was squeezed, frozen and confined in that location. Until all that was left was his head and then his mind and then just his memories.
xxx
The sun shone down on a stony field bisected by a winding river. Nary a cloud was in the sky and a pleasant breeze flounced through the field stripping the few trees of their summer leaves. Standing by the river engaged in the business of fishing were a young boy and girl. Although one of the two seemed to be a bit confused over the direction in which the fish should be going.
"See Banky, it's a mature female Yellow Spotted Dandyfish," a young girl with light blue hair said. Dressed in poor clothes she stood ankle deep in river water, gently holding a squirming fish about two adult hands in size. "The Yellow Spotted variety are a local mutation that have adapted to the local diet of Fangal Stalks and they're one of the few fish that can eat the hard grass variants. You can tell by this black stripe at the bottom that it's ready to breed, and she's so plump I bet she's full of unfertilized eggs. We can't just kill a new mother to be."
"Firstly, both you and I know that it's not the right season for breeding," a young man with dark blue hair said. "She's fat because she has to build up food reserves for the cold season. Secondly, that is the third Dandyfish we've already caught today. If we don't take it then there's a good chance that the Iron Furs down the river will eat it instead. Do you want to use up your bye on the Dandyfish?" he asked and she went silent.
"No," she admitted quietly, looking so sad for a moment. "I'm sorry little Dandyfish," she said.
"Would you like me to do the k__ preparation," the boy said and the girl hesitated before nodding and handing him the fish.
The boy waited until she had turned away, focusing her attention on the river, before he tapped the fish on the skull rendering it unconscious and in one swift movement cut into the gills rendering it dead. He let the blood drain out before putting it in their fish box, which was already quite full. It was a decent haul for today, enough that they were ahead for the week, if this continued then they could both take a day off at the end of the week and explore the nearby forest. Maybe they could forage up something for a change in diet. Turning back to the river he picked up his rod, baiting the hook with some worms that he had scrounged up before sitting on a relatively comfortable rock. For a few minutes the pair sat in comfortable silence, each in their own little worlds that only happened to be geographically close to each other.
"I'm sorry," the girl said after a while, her quiet voice cutting through the silence that was allegedly required when fishing, although none of them were the most talkative people.
"Hmm, about what?" the boy asked turning his head to see his companion steadfastly focused on the river, avoiding eye contact. He turned back to his own line, which remained completely still.
"I know you're angry..," she started.
"I am not," he immediately cut her off.
"Really," she said looking towards him, and he matched her look causing her to avert her eyes immediately.
"I promise Aggy. I'm very much not angry," he said. "I'm a bit sad that we have to catch fish to survive at all, but I'm also grateful that we have this way to eat. I've contemplated if there was any other way of survival or maybe just not taking you on these trips." A memory from the future assailed him and he became alert jerking his rod at the exact time the fish took the bait and lodging the hook firmly inside the cheek of the fish.
"I won't let you go alone," the girl said. "But I was wondering if we could maybe go hunting one day."
"Hunting," he contemplated as he caught a glimpse of the fish at the end of his hook. It was definitely going to be a bye. This was the type of fish that he would release even if there were no byes left. While it could fetch a pretty price at the right place, few in this town had enough money to pay the true worth of the fish, and nobody that he liked enough to sell it to them.
"Is that a Rainbow-Scaled Angelfish," Aggy said, flexing her fingers like she was restraining herself from diving in and grabbing it herself. "I still have a bye left," she said, any regrets gone from her voice to be replaced by sheer excitement.
"Get ready to safely catch it," he warned, although he needn't have bothered. As soon as the radiant creature exited the water, beams of light shot in every direction and the boy stepped backwards dodging a couple that went in his direction. Nearer to the fish, the girl reached out and grabbed it, smothering the radiance of the reflection with thick gloves, reinforced with ungodly amounts of mana.
"It's beautiful isn't it," she said remarking at the radiant looking fish and even he couldn't disagree. The way that the light hit the scales was dazzling and with the girl covering it with her shadow the power of the lasers had fallen off to basically nothing.
"It is," he said. "Do you real..."
"It's definitely come from the northern estuaries," his sister said cutting him off, as she gave a quick peek below. "Male about fifteen centimeters so he's still growing, but he's a handsome specimen, alright."
"Yes, he is. Do yo..." he started.
"They come from the Dazzling Sea, which boasts an average lux of 150,000," she continued, and the boy gave up on interjecting as she explained while, gently handled the fish, before lowering it into the river, letting it get submerged fully, before releasing it and allowing it to fade into the river water. The two of them stood for a moment watching the river, without resetting the lines.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"So abo___" the boy started.
"I want to___" the girl started.
Silence fell between the two of them, before the boy pointed at the girl.
"It's your turn," he said, remembering that the last time he spoke first in this situation.
"Thanks," she said. "I'll be quick. I want to own an aquarium." She paused briefly matching his eyes, before sitting down on the fishing rock. "It's a thing that rich people in the cities have, where they keep beautiful fish in homes of glass. Obviously I don't mean now, because we're poor, but I want to be rich an own an aquarium some day." She smiled raising her hand as if reaching towards a dream.
"That's nice," the boy said, receiving a smile from the girl that was mirrored on his own face. "You done?"
"Sure, I am," she admitted. "It's your turn."
"Hunting is dangerous," the boy said. "Hunting in the baron's woods is illegal, but I don't think you mean that. You mean either the Butterfly Woods, in which we would be then trapping and hunt small game, which we have no experience in doing or the much more dangerous Fur Forest."
"I meant hunting in the Fur Forest," she clarified.
"Right," the boy stated. "I know there are a few hunters in our little village who go into the outskirts of the fur forest, but not all of them always return. And of those that go, all of them are at least three times our age. I know both of us are strong compared to the other children in the village but what makes you think that we can hunt there?"
"Oh, I'll show you," the girl said, springing from her position seated on the rock. "Watch Banky, are you watching?"
"I'm watching Aggy," the boy said, watching as her immense mana flared. Even compared to fully grown adults it was monstrous and he had no doubt that it was probably the highest in the village besides possibly the Chief and the Jack the woodcutter, both of them who had a storied past if his judgement wasn't wrong. Around the younger girl six transparent tear-shaped stones, looking like what he imagined a diamond would look like, appeared, before slowly rotating around her.
"Watch Banksy," she said pointing at a nearby stump, and he was glad that his focus was undivided. If he had blinked he would have undoubtedly missed the sight of the stone firing soundlessly from her hand before blasting a hole through the nearby stump, a fraction of a second before a loud splintering sound hit ears. The stump was completely ruined, and while there was little resistance to the object upon the initial impact of the now twice dead tree, it looked like a large amount of it tried to come along.
"What do you think?" the girl said, puffing out her chest proudly.
"Sorry, I didn't see," he said, watching as the girl immediately deflated. "I'm kidding. It's a beautiful spell, but maybe it might be too damaging to the meat? Can you modify to increase penetration and decrease the explosive impact. How well can you control it?"
"Oh. that's easy," she said as the stone returned to her orbiting around her head again, before it engaged in immensely complicated aerial maneuvers and then a second one joined, before a third one attempted to join and the speed of the movements slowed down. "I can rework it later. Do you want to learn?"
"Yes," he said immediately. It was an empty question. Of course he wanted to learn. Even if he said no, she would probably sulk until he said yes. "What's it called?"
"Agua's Rhinestone Tears," she said, basking in the invisible praise.
"Rhinestone Tears," he said, watching as her face fell. "Got it."
"Agua's Rhinestone Tears," she repeated insistently.
"But if you're going to make a better version, doesn't mean this is a worse version, and therefore it doesn't deserve the Agua brand," he said, employing devious rhetoric.
"I know you dislike the longer names of my spells," the girl said. "Do you believe that I won't start adding version 1,2 and so on after them."
"I will treasure the spell Agua's Rhinestone Tears," the boy said immediately, before he fell silent. "If we are going to hunt we have to be smart about it and make a plan. We can speak to the hunters of the village and ply them with alcohol and get some information in exchange."
"I'll leave that to you, while I modify the spell," the girl said, trying not to seem to eager to get out of conversation with the hunters of the village.
"Leave it to me," the boy said accepting it as his duty. "We should have enough money to get some basic equipment. We shouldn't need any weapons or armor."
"Or a set of torches," the girl said as a ball of light appeared in her hand, in a casual display of magic. The sheer lack of exertion indicated that she could probably easily continue it for an hour, but prior knowledge indicated that she could definitely keep it going indefinitely.
"We may need a tent, or at least two sleeping bags," the boy continued as he . "I'll draw up a list. Can you think what else we may need on our journey." He bent down picking up his rod, detaching the hook before winding the line all the way back. "We can take tomorrow off in prep__" he paused his words as cold shiver spiked down his back and he turned his head to see a massive Crocarp bearing down on him, it's maw opened wider than he was tall, the bulky thing bigger than a horse bearing down on him with terrifying momentum. A dim regret and acknowledgement that he had let his guard down were the only thing in his mind and he silently prepared himself to send his memories back a few seconds.
The scaled head of the Crocarp exploded as a trio of small gemstones smashed into it at speeds a good deal faster than sound, killing it's momentum and giving him enough time to step out of the way of the multi-ton creature that slammed into the ground kicking up dust.
"Are you okay, Banky," the girl said as the three Rhinestones exited the beast.
"Yeah, let my guard down like an idiot," the boy admitted.
"I suppose you could have just gone back in time, and avoided the attack," the girl admitted, now looking at the massive corpse of the Crocarp with a look of sadness.
"Yeah, but dying still hurts like hell," the boy admitted. "You saved me from that at least, so thanks."
"I'm glad," the girl admitted. "So since this is dead, then I guess we also have to take it back to the village then. I wonder how much money we can get for this?"
"Oh, yeah," the boy's face fell. "I bet this weighs a ton."
"At least," the girl said. "Still if you take one side and I take another then I guess it won't take too long." That was a lie. The village was already quite a journey even unladen. Carrying the massive Crocarp carcass would be a massive undertaking.
"I have a better idea," the boy said. "I've been lamenting the long walks to and from the village."
"Oh, have you came out with a new spell," the girl said plonking herself on the floor. "I showed you my spell. Now you have to show me yours."
"You know how I can jump a couple hours back and forward in time," he said explaining.
"I do know that," the girl said.
"That was rhetorical, I was just setting up for the main explanation," he admitted. "Now what is the difference between jumping a few hours in time and a few miles in space."
"One is space, another is time," the girl said. "Wait was that also rhetorical?"
"That wasn't rhetorical," the boy admitted, getting an amused glare from the girl.
"You really need to tell me if you're being rhetorical," she said. "Is there some link between space and time? Can you explain how it works?"
"Yeah, there's a link, they're related or the same thing, or maybe they're just both imaginary arbitrary slices of some even higher dimension," the boy said, his confidence fading as he continued to talk. An explanation that had once felt so clear, now difficult as the correct words abandoned him. "I can't really explain how it works it's just...I can intuit it. As long as there is space, as long as things exist in three dimensions so too will time exist in some form, and if time exists then I can do...this." His last words were more spoken to himself than his companion.
He snapped his fingers and man, woman and fish disappeared from the spot leaving an empty field and a pair of rods sitting there alone, and a lot of other fish in a cold box, all these things necessitating a further visit once the big fish had been dropped off.
xxx
Thousands of years later and in a place beyond the grasp of time the Future Banks did the same thing, snapping his fingers through the lack of time and a person shaped hole appeared in the vat of blood where he once was.
